My Aussie Family

I've been dropping and random facts about my Aussie family for months, but I've yet to take the moment to actually introduce you all to them. So, here I go:

Jess

I think nearly everyone who reads this blog has already met Jess. She lived with my parents as an exchange student for most of 2007 and the beginning of 2008. She is one my best friends in the whole world and was much of the catalyst for me coming to Australia in the first place. In March, she will be be beginning her university education in Adelaide, where she will be studying journalism. She loves country music (we all have faults) and Disney movies. She's extremely caring and giving and has the ability to talk to anyone. She has an incredibly warming laugh.

Les and Sharon

Les is Jess's father. He works for the government through the water department, specifically in sewage treatment. In his spare time, he is a licenced paver and tiler and does an amazing job. His perfectionism feeds his completely word of mouth job and he does great work on all of his projects. In his life, he's done every hands-on job a person can imagine, including butcher, baker, candlestick maker. Seriously, every time he tells a story, he is working on something different. Les is very friendly guy that everyone in town knows. He'll give the shirt off his back to help out a friend and is just a good bloke with whom to have a beer.

Sharon is Jess's mother. She works as a medical receptionist at a local clinic. She has a passion for many television shows across many genres. Above all though, she is a hard-working, caring mother and wife and does so many things around the house. She shares more than just a name with my mother. Just like my own mom, Sharon is one of those people who is easy to approach to talk about anything that might be troubling you. Much like the rest of the family, she is extremely caring.

Making the transition to living in Australia has been amazingly easy given all the support I've received from the Eyles family. It is really neat that Jess and I have been in a very literal sense doing an exchange. This time though, it wasn't through an organization, they just opened their home to me without any questions. The part I respect the most is that I was still welcome, not only in their home, but in their family after Jess and I broke up. I will never forget their rare kindness and I have no trouble actually calling them my family.